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Graphical desktop environments provided by the system must automatically lock after 15 minutes of inactivity and the system must require users to re-authenticate to unlock the environment. Applications requiring continuous, real-time screen display (i.e., network management products) require the following and need to be documented with the IAO. -The logon session does not have administrator rights. -The display station (i.e., keyboard, monitor, etc.) is located in a controlled access area.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Security Technical Implementation Guide

Assessment Title

Rule Text

Description

Discussion Text

If graphical desktop sessions do not lock the session after 15 minutes of inactivity, requiring re-authentication to resume operations, the system or individual data could be compromised by an alert intruder who could exploit the oversight. This requirement applies to graphical desktop environments provided by the system to locally attached displays and input devices as well as to graphical desktop environments provided to remote systems, including thin clients.

How this relates to the STIG checklist: STIG vs SCAP benchmark.

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-000057CCE-3315-9

Additional Details

Responsibility

System Administrator

References

DPMS Target Red Hat 5 DISA DPMS Target Red Hat 5 2154

SCC Automation Reference

The reconstructed evaluation script behind this rule's OVAL check(s) — every module a compound check combines, with this rule's own concrete values and DISA's SCC tool's real per-module mechanism curated from static teardown of SCC releases.

#!/bin/bash
# Reconstructed from oval:mil.disa.fso.rhel11:def:52
# Graphical desktop environments provided by the system must automatically lock after 15 minutes of inactivity and the system must require users to re-authenticate to unlock the environment.

Applications requiring continuous, real-time screen display (i.e., network management products) require the following and need to be documented with the IAO.

-The logon session does not have administrator rights. 
-The display station (i.e., keyboard, monitor, etc.) is located in a controlled access area.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# idle_activation_enabled is true
# xmlfilecontent_object (xmlfilecontent_test)
test_1() {
  (xmllint --xpath '/gconf/entry[@name='\''idle_activation_enabled'\'']/@value' '/etc/gconf/gconf.xml.mandatory/apps/gnome-screensaver/%gconf.xml' 2>/dev/null | sed -E 's/^[^=]+="//; s/"$//') | grep -qxF 'true'
}
# X Windows package is not installed
# rpminfo_object (rpminfo_test)
test_2() {
  ! ( rpm -q --quiet 'xorg-x11-server-Xorg' &>/dev/null )
}

if ! ( test_1 || test_2 ); then
  echo "PASS"
else
  echo "FAIL"
fi

Assessment Script Powered by AISandbox-executed

A standalone Shell script to assess this control automatically. Review before running it in your environment.

Syntax-checked and actually executed in an isolated sandbox (not the real system this checks) — confirmed to run without errors.

#!/bin/sh
# DISA STIG / SCAP compliance check for oval:mil.disa.fso.rhel11:def:52

if [ ! -f "/etc/gconf/gconf.xml.mandatory" ]; then
  echo "FAIL"
  exit 1
fi

if grep -q "<entry name='idle_activation_enabled' value='true'" /etc/gconf/gconf.xml.mandatory; then
  echo "PASS"
  exit 0
fi

if [ ! -x "$(command -v rpm)" ]; then
  echo "PASS"
  exit 0
fi

rpm -q xorg-x11-server-Xorg > /dev/null 2>&1
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
  echo "PASS"
  exit 0
fi

echo "FAIL"
exit 1

Remediation

For the Gnome screen saver, set the idle_activation_enabled flag.
Procedure:
# gconftool-2 --direct --config-source xml:readwrite:/etc/gconf/gconf.xml.mandatory --type bool --set /apps/gnome-screensaver/idle_activation_enabled true